Phil Young
Abstract Artist
Philip E. Young passed away unexpectedly on July 13 at age 82. He was born in New York in 1940 to Lyle and Mary Young. He was the youngest of three siblings and is predeceased by his brother Robert and survived by his sister Sally. Phil leaves behind his loving wife of 49 years, Lorraine, and his daughter, Jessie, who adored him.
Phil was a graduate of Johnson City High School, he went on to study teaching at SUNY, Buffalo and earned his graduate degree in teaching from Wisconsin State University. After graduating, Phil lead student groups for the School for International Living, extensively traveling the globe. He taught painting and drawing for over thirty years at Burlington High School, and served as chair of the art department until his retirement.
Following his retirement, Phil supervised student teachers for The Museum School and Tufts University, and exhibited his paintings around the New England area.
He also enjoyed many years of travel, voracious reading, following the exploits of British royalty, and eating lots of good food with his wife and daughter whom he loved with all his heart.
In Phil's own words:
Philip Young has long been intrigued with landscape forms. Moving to New England from the Southern Tier of New York State brought coastal forms more directly into his life. Studying art and art history at the University of Siena in Italy while in college and many extended travels over the years also contributed to his view of the landscape as subject matter.
The ocean was not part of his growing up and discovering it as a young adult made a memorable impact on him. Retirement from a long career in art education finally gave him the time to get back to painting and exploring color and form on canvas.
He loves to explore the richness and vibrancy of color, to discover the way new paint overlaps existing color, creating exciting new color relationships. As Phil explores color, he much prefers a color against another color, a shape against another shape, and a dark against a light. He is a colorist and his work is more impressionistic and abstract than representational.
He loves the process of painting, the experience of placing paint on the canvas and the solving of compositional and color problems. The risk-taking, that real possibility of losing a precious part of the composition is often daunting but ultimately rewarding and is a large component of all his paintings.
When it all comes together he finds it exhilarating.
His heroes? He especially worships Richard Diebenkorn, Fairfield Porter and the Italian painter Afro Basaldella, (1912-1976) usually known by just his first name.
Education
B.S. Art Education, SUNY Buffalo, 1962
M.S. Art Studio Art (painting), University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1967
Additional coursework, Mass Art, Northeastern
Professional Experience
Art Teacher Union-Endicott High School, Endicott, N.Y. 1962-1966
Escort Officer U.S. State Dept/ Experiment In International Living – East Asian, Pacific Rim Student Groups, 1967-69
Art teacher Burlington High School, Burlington, MA, 1969-2002
Chairman, Art Dept. Burlington High School, 1984-2002
Supervisor, student teachers: Tufts/SMFA, 2003-2018
Professional Affiliations
Burlington Educators Association
National Education Association
Presenter, NAEA national conference, 1989,1993,1995,1997
Massachusetts Art Education Association
Massachusetts Directors of Art Education
Vice-President, 1990-91
President, 1991-1993
Arlington Center For The Arts, Board of Directors, 1997-2005
Massachusetts Art All-State Festival
1988-2002 - Steering Committee member, candidate interviewer, interview site co-ordinator
Member, Advisory Board, Boston Globe Scholastic Art Awards, 1990-2013
Member: Cambridge Art Association, Concord Art Association,
Attleboro Arts Museum, Danforth Museum, Rocky Neck Art Colony
Honors
Art Administrator of the Year, Massachusetts Art Education Association, 2002
Distinguished Teacher (co-recipient) Mass College of Art, 2002
Recent Exhibitions
BLUE, Cambridge Art Ass., juror: Jen Mergel, Curator, ICA, Boston, 2008
Stratum, Cambridge Art Association, juror: Camilo Alvarez, Owner-Samson Projects, Boston, 2009
Images of Arlington-Green, Gibbs Gallery, Arlington Center For the Arts, 2009
Family, Arlington Town Hall Gallery, 2009
10th Annual Frances N. Roddy Open Competition, juried by Charles Movalli,
Concord Art Association, 2009
Voyages of the Mind, Body and Soul, Cambridge Art Association, juried by
James Hull, 2010
Fall Salon Show, Cambridge Art Association, 2010
BLUE, Cambridge Art Association, juried by Susan Vrotsos
and Amy Ford, 2010
Media, Materials & Meaning, Cambridge Art Association, juried by Marjorie Kaye, Galatea Fine Art, 2011
Fall Salon Show, Cambridge Art Association, 2011
Mass Art Educators Exhibit, Transportation Building, 2012
Exquisite Resistance, Small Group Show, University Place Gallery, Cambridge
Art Association, 2012
One Man Show, University Place Management Office, Cambridge Art
Association, 2012
Fall Salon Show, Cambridge Art Association, 2012
Open Studios Exhibit, Gibbs Gallery, Arlington Center For the Arts, 2012
Recycle, Cambridge Art Association, Juried by Susan Nielsen, farm project
space + gallery, Wellfleet, MA 2013
Mass Art Educators Exhibit, Transportation Building, 2013
Members Prize Show, Cambridge Art Association, juried by
Kate McNamara, Director & Chief Curator, Boston University Art Gallery, 2013
Mined Over Matter, Small Group Show, Cambridge Art Association, 2013
Refused, Kathryn Schultz Gallery, Cambridge Art Association, 2013
Legacy Exhibition, Ames Estate, North Easton, MA, juried by Mim Fawcett,
Executive Director, Attleboro Arts Museum, 2014
Members’ Prize Show. Cambridge Art Association, juried by Al
Miner, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2014
Platinum, Cambridge Art Association, juried by Alise Upitis, MIT List Art
Center, Asst. Curator, 2014
Members Juried 1, Concord Art Association, juried by Mary Tinti,
curator, Fitchburg Art Museum, 2015
Paint, Cambridge Art Association, juried by Ali Ringenburg,
owner /director Sloane Merrill Gallery, Boston, 2015
Perfect Storm, Rocky Neck Art Colony, Gloucester, MA, juried by
Leonie Bradbury, curator Montserrat College of Art galleries, 2015
Printed, Painted, Folded, Torn, Paperwork, Rocky
Neck Art Colony, Gloucester, Ma, juried by Katherine French, 2015
14 National Prize Show, Cambridge Art Association, honoring the vision of
Michael Rush, late director of the Broad Art Museum, Michigan State
University—work selected by Caitlin Doherty, curator at Broad Art
Museum, 2015
Possessions, Prized and Otherwise, Attleboro Arts Museum, juried by Nancy
and Lucy Grogan of Grogan and Co., Fine Art Auctioneers of Boston, 2015
Family Show, work of Jessica S. Young, Lorraine Sullivan, Philip Young;
Transportation Building, Boston, 2015
Fall Salon Show, Cambridge Art Association, 2015
Selfish, Cambridge Art Association, Juried by Catherine Kehoe, 2016
Winterbreak, Cambridge Art Association, 2016
8 Visions, work from 8 juried Attleboro Arts Museum member artists;
(Elena Bachrach, Executive Director, Newburyport Art Association and Matthew Swift, owner and director, Trident Gallery, Gloucester, MA 2016
New England Collective VII, Galatea Fine Art, Boston, juried by Julie
Burros, Chief of Arts and Culture, City of Boston, 2016
Fall Salon Show, Cambridge Art Association, 2016
Ideas Of Home, Cambridge Art Association, 2017
Members Juries 2, Concord Art Association, juried by Randi
Hopkins, Director of Visual Arts at Boston Center
For the Arts, 2017
Fall Salon Show, Cambridge Art Association, 2017
BLUE, Cambridge Art Association, juried by Vera Ingrid Grant, director
of Ethelbert Cooper Gallery, Harvard University, 2017
Member’s Juried 2, Concord Art Association. Juried by Abigail Ogilvy, Director,
Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, Boston, 2018
New England Collective IX, Galatea Fine Art, Boston, juried by Marni
Elyse Katz, 2018